Unholy Matrimony is a Shrine to the Gods of Avant Garde Fashion

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Saturday night's party to commemorate the opening of Case Study/Unholy Matrimony packed 'em in like skinny, fashionable sardines. When you factor in all the amazing elements—music; free booze; an intriguing space conceived of to blur the demarcations between art, design, and fashion; merchandise from the cream of the avant garbe crop like Maison Martin Margiela, Hussein Chalayan and Junya Watanabe—we're actually surprised more people weren't there. (And we were also surprised that even in that oasis of pricey clothing and elbow-jostling, they were serving sticky pink drinks. Talk about magnanimous hosts.)

Even when it's wall-to-wall people, the space is obviously amazing. It's a cavernous affair, adorned with painting, mixed media works, grass on the walls, minimalist but spooky mannequins, and a creepy baby sculpture. It was so packed as to make quality fondling of the merchandise nearly impossible. For us, there were two standout pieces: the silk and leather, pink and white blazer in the pictures, and a gorgeous boxy silk blouse with a hand-paining "Ophelia Drowning" on the front. At $1,125, it was a bit out of our price range.

The clothes are every bit as exceptional as the space housing them. Again, the volume of people made it impossible to spend much time with an particular item; we went back on Sunday to get some pix, but they were apparently observing the Lord's sabbath, and we could not get in. We'll be back to bring you an up-close-and-personal look later on in the week.
· Case Study/Unholy Matrimony [Official Site]